High School Hoop stars choose Kentucky Blue

NORTH CAROLINA (BASN)-Don’t be mad at him. But, Kentucky’s John Calipri continues to persuade the top notch high school ballers in the country to pack up their bags and head to the bluegrass state in order to play basketball in the SEC. And with the recent, five year, $80 million extension given to the 2011 No.1 draft pick John Wall, a former Wildcats, by the Washington Wizards, several other high school hoopers will probably be signing up in order to be part of Calipri’s seemingly college to the pros assemble line.

Therefore, one shouldn’t be surprised, that six of the top 20 high schoolers from the class of 2013, according to SlamMagazine, will be sporting Kentucky blue this fall.

They include the Texas trio of Julius Randle, Andrew and Aaron Harrison, along with 6-10 center Dakari Johnson from Montverde High School in Florida and 6’9 power forward Marcus Lee from Deer Valley High School in California.

With so such talent, Calipri has a difficult tasks finding enough basketball to pass around, while trying to develop chemistry between so many high ranking players.

It should be interesting to see, but extremely fun to watch.

Below are the rest of the best high school ballers in the game.

RANK PLAYER HEIGHT POSITION SCHOOL COLLEGE

1 Andrew Wiggins 6-8 SF Huntington Prep (WV) Kansas

2 Jabari Parker 6-8 SF Simeon (IL) Duke

3 Julius Randle 6-9 PF Prestonwood (TX) Kentucky .

4 Andrew Harrison 6-5 PG Travis (TX) Kentucky

5 Aaron Gordon 6-9 PF Archbishop Mitty (CA) Arizona

6 Aaron Harrison 6-5 SG Travis (TX) Kentucky

7 Noah Vonleh 6-8 PF New Hampton (NH) Indiana

8 James Young 6-6 SF Rochester (MI) Kentucky

9 Chris Walker 6-10 PF Holmes County (FL) Florida

10 Kasey Hill 6-1 PG Montverde (FL) Florida

11 Wayne Selden 6-5 SG Tilton (NH) Kansas

12 Dakari Johnson 6-10 C Montverde (FL) Kentucky

13 Jarell Martin 6-8 PF Madison Prep (LA) LSU

14 Bobby Portis 6-10 PF Hall (AR) Arkansas

15 Austin Nichols 6-8 PF Briarcrest Christian (TN)

16 Isaiah Hicks 6-8 PF Webb (NC) North Carolina

17 Rondae Hollis-Jefferson 6-7 SF Chester (PA) Arizona

18 Marcus Lee 6-9 PF Deer Valley (CA) Kentucky

19 Rysheed Jordan 6-3 PG Robert Vaux (PA) St. John’s

20 Isaac Hamilton 6-5 SG St. John Bosco (CA) UTEP

21 Zak Irvin 6-6 SF Hamilton Southeastern (IN) Michigan

22 Anthony Barber 6-2 PG Hampton (VA) South Carolina

23 Jabari Bird 6-6 SG Salesian (CA) California

24 Jermaine Lawrence 6-9 PF Pope John XXII (NJ) Cincinnati

25 Nigel Williams-Goss 6-3 PG Findlay (NV) Washington

26 Joel Embiid 7-0 C Rock School (FL) Kansas

27 Kuran Iverson 6-8 SF Fishburne (VA) Memphis

28 Demetrius Jackson 6-1 PG Marian (IN) Notre Dame .

29 Robert Hubbs 6-5 SG Dyer County (TN) Tennessee

30 Tyler Ennis 6-2 PG St. Benedict’s (NJ) Syracuse

31 JaJuan Johnson 6-5 SG Southwinnd (TN) Marquette

32 Keith Frazier 6-5 SG Kimball (TX) SMU .

33 Derrick Walton 6-0 PG Chandler Park (MI) Michigan

34 Matt Jones 6-4 SG DeSoto (TX) Duke

35 Tyler Roberson 6-7 PF Roselle (NJ) Syracuse

36 Semi Ojeleye 6-6 SF Ottawa (KS) Duke

37 Xavier Rathan-Mayes 6-6 SF DeSoto (TX) Florida State

38 Brannen Greene 6-6 SG Tift (GA) Kansas

39 Eric Mika 6-9 C Lone Peak (UT) BYU

40 Jordan Mickey 6-8 PF Prime Prep (TX) LSU

Eric D.Graham, a graduate of Winston-Salem State University, where he received a B.A. in Mass C0mmunications with a concentration in Radion and Television and minor in History with an emphasis in African-American Studies, is currenlty the Editor and Chief at Black Athlete Sports Network, where his articles appear daily along with his controversial cartoon Here Comes The Hater featuring “Bobbee Bee.” Graham can be reached at lbiass34@yahoo.com